CTCC Welcomes New Executive Director

In September of 2021, FIU welcomed Ruth Pacheco, Ph.D., the new Executive Director of Integrated Industry Partnerships and Career Readiness.  Dr. Pacheco carries an abundance of prior experience in higher education, as she’s worked in institutions such as Barry University and DeVry University. FIU too is no stranger to Ruth. She served in many capacities at the beautiful Biscayne Bay Campus some two decades ago. Ruth’s experience embodies her fervor to pave the way for FIU students and alumni to meet their career and credentialing goals. With skills in IT and a passion for industry certifications, Ruth brings fresh perspectives to various aspects of the knowledge industry.  

Dr. Pacheco took the time to meet with the Center for Testing and Career Certification (CTCC) team to briefly discuss future goals for what her position would entail. The Executive Director position will serve to help create a bridge between career readiness and the community. Ruth believes that FIU students and alumni can compete at the highest level in the job market. How could this be done? Ruth will directly collaborate with the CTCC, along with Career and Talent Development (CTD) to make this possible. Leveraging certifications for students or attaining globally recognized credentials are some of the limitless options that will be put to the test.    

Furthermore, Dr. Pacheco intends to foster relationships with additional internal partners at FIU and externally. She expressed her deep admiration for faculty and staff who are committed to the student body and who give of their time and expertise to help propel students to the next level.  These are the individuals with whom she seeks to collaborate. Externally, Ruth plans to work closely with industry to better predict what skill-sets employers are looking for in their future employees. With this information, she proposes to develop a career guide that is interactive, which will assist students to formulate and assess their career goals and guide them to take the steps necessary to accomplish them.    

We are excited by the passion that Dr. Ruth Pacheco brings to the University and the impact she will have on the FIU community in general and the Center for Testing and Career Certification and Career and Talent Development in particular. 

CTCC Gets Recertified

Your Center for Testing and Career Certification (CTCC) at MMC has both maintained and reached a new height with the National College Testing Association (NCTA). The center initially joined the ranks of institutions of higher learning certified through NCTA by attaining certification in 2016. Being endorsed as such by this organization, which is dedicated to the promotion of professionalism, efficiency, and quality in the administration of testing services and programs, has helped increase the value of our center and further allows CTCC to support the mission of the university and our students.   

It goes without saying that much can and has changed in a span of five years, the same length of time in which the certification is active for. Since then, CTCC relocated and its footprint more than quadrupled. In addition, having bolstered its menu of assessments and certifications, our team offered services to over 10,000 examinees in 2019 alone topping all the center’s previous recordings. The year 2020 brought on unprecedented times which led to the rise of our virtual Remote Testing Center, providing exams online in the most secure manner available instead of the traditional in-person modality.    

With that and more having occurred during the past few years, our task with the latest NCTA application was to capture and demonstrate all of CTCC’s updated mission, structure, processes, standards, safety measures, technology, layout, means of marketing, and etc., into a single document along with corresponding appendices. This was no small feat, and like many of our counterparts, the process took several months (while amid the global pandemic) to complete and to submit. Therefore, upon receiving the official congratulatory communication on August 26th, 2021 from NCTA’s president announcing CTCC at MMC’s recertification, a shout of joy, merited happy dance, and a round of sanitized hand high-fives was not beyond us. Even as BBC now also prepares for recertification, we look forward to what the next five years has in store and the many advancements our center will be able to make during this timeframe.

CTCC Cares

The Center for Testing and Career Certification (CTCC) is proud to offer various exams that allow candidates to graduate more quickly or prepare them for their careers. However, in addition to these tests, CTCC has also greatly invested into the FIU population. This has been succeeded through collaboration with departments on campus to assist them with their needs.   

One of the biggest partnerships has come with the Disability Resource Center (DRC). The DRC services 3500 students across the University. Many of these students need accommodations such as extended time or a non-distraction room. These accommodations are nearly impossible to meet in the normal classroom setting with their professor. CTCC is able to leverage its space and technologies to assist DRC to meet their testing needs. CTCC assists by administering exams for a great many  of their students. DRC students  are able to get their full extended time while being tested in a space that is free from distractions among other important accommodations.   

CTCC has also worked with the Global First Year program. These are students coming from different countries to eventually spend their academic career at FIU. All of these Global First Years have had to take a selection of exams in order to get placed into classes or to meet university criteria. These assessments have included the PERT, the ALEKS math placement and now the ACT On-Campus. CTCC has helped administer these for their students at our own testing centers.  

FIU’S Dual Enrollment (DE) program is another entity that CTCC has directly impacted. Most of the DE students have not taken the PERT at their own schools but need to complete it to meet FIU’s minimum requirements. Our staff helps get students’ information into a database to allow them to register for these PERT assessments remotely. In addition, staff reviews these remote tests for any cases of cheating to make sure that there is no unfair advantage amongst DE candidates. While there are many deadlines for these examinations, CTCC is committed to making sure that these potential DE candidates can take their exams on time.   

CTCC believes in the students at FIU and is thrilled to continue to collaborate with departments to effectively build a stronger FIU community.

More Sweet than Bitter

The Center for Testing and Career Certification (CTCC) is a team of professionally trained and fully equipped individuals who set out to make every encounter our FIU population and south Florida community has within our testing facilities and throughout our remote platforms the most optimal experience possible. One such team member is John Lefebvre. Joining the team back in August of 2016, he began as a student front desk assistant. He demonstrated a passion for helping everyone who walked through the door of our center’s MMC location with a welcoming greeting followed by his willingness to aid them with the purpose of their visit. John quickly became a staple at our front desk and upon becoming a cum laude graduate of FIU with a Bachelor of Business Administration after the summer 2018, we were able to retain him on board as a temporary employee. While in this capacity, he continued his education by pursing a master’s degree program in theological studies. In his pastime, John served as an active and long-standing member of his church and was charged as a youth ministry overseer. As time went on, we were more than pleased to offer Mr. Lefebvre a fulltime position with our unit in January of 2020. He proved to have been a great selection and took on many responsibilities in his role as a Program Specialist, all while completing his graduate degree. 

John was an integral part in our collaboration with the School of Education and CTCC’s offerings of the Florida Teacher Certification Examinations/Florida Educational Leadership Examination (FTCE/FELE). He contributed to the committee that shaped our center’s approved 2020 Technology Fee application of over $100,000 in funding for the support of technological advancements and was a huge benefit to our newsletter committee with his writing and critiquing skills. Therefore, in December of 2021, we were both excited and saddened to hear the news that John had landed his dream position as an Associate Pastor at his Home Church and would be parting ways with FIU. We could not be prouder of the remarkable young man that he has developed into and the journey that he has taken during the past five years of service that he has dedicated to our center. And so, it is more sweet than bitter for us to bid Mr. John Lefebvre adieu and much prosperity in his new chapter of life!

Bookmark This!

Make sure to secure your ATI TEAS seats for in-person testing. They do fill up fast! Also consider the remote possibility through Proctorio. Please visit our website at https://testing.fiu.edu to register for either option and for any questions, email CTCC at bbctesting@fiu.edu or testing@fiu.edu.

Certify your skills by completing a Certiport exam with us at CTCC. Your degree will get you into the interview, but your certification will get you hired! Please visit our website at https://testing.fiu.edu for details regarding the exams and how to register.